Customers are the lifeblood of any business, online or offline, right? Sales reps are employed by businesses in the real world to call on potential clients on an ongoing basis, until they get a client. On the Internet the process should be the same, but unfortunately all you have is your website, and what I see more often than not, are websites set up to market their products to one prospect at a time. There’s no continuity, no relationship building, and as a result, inevitably.. less customers and less sales.

This is why “list building” has been continually touted to new marketers on forums across the web, but far too many people are not listening, I hope you’re listening? You see, your email list is the solution to bridging this gap between unique visitors and consistent visitors.

I don’t know about you, but rarely will I make a purchase from a website without knowing full well who’s behind the screen. I have these visions of a person in a mask and striped jumper ready to take my hard earned cash and head for the hills.

Any sales professional will tell you that a customer will need between 5 -10 contact sessions before they buy from you. Without a list, you have no chance of following up after the initial first time meeting. Yes, list building is not only another marketing tool to get more sales, it i s absolutely essential in the online world and can be the difference between making 10 sales a month to making 100 sales a month. Of course, the quality of your list ultimately determines how many sales you make over all.

1) Pay Once – Market Forever:

Unlike many other forms of advertising and marketing, this approach is very cool in that you only have to pay for a lead once, to get the opportunity to market to them repeatedly for free. Whatever the cost (time or money) it took to get them onto your list, you will be paid back tenfold over the course of your relationship with these people.

2) Works in Any Niche:

We can promote and make money within any niche, but the beauty of email marketing is that you can cross promote relevant products continuously because you have an ongoing communication with your prospects. If you have a prospect on your list that is interested in weight loss, you can also promote gym equipment, physical products like the “George foreman” grill, and any other products remotely related to weight loss and general health.

3) It Can Be Completely Automated:

Once you have leads (prospects) coming into your system, you can set up a funnel that sells your products on autopilot. With the technology we have at our fingertips today like autoresponders, we can set up an email campaign to go out to our list automatically. All you have to do is set it, and forget it. Now and then you can send a broadcast message to your list about any immediate updates you feel they should know about.